Mark 5:1-20 | 7th June 2026

that in. So what? Yeah. All right. Thank

you. So um yeah, it's just it's just a

privilege uh to be here. Our passage is

Mark chapter 5. Mark chapter 5

Mark 5 · chapter mention Mark 5:1–20

verses 1- 20. This is the story of the

Garazine

demoniac. Mark chapter 5:es 1-20.

Um, I I will actually read the passage

as I go. I'm not going to read the whole

thing now, but as as I tell the story,

I'll read each section as we go. So,

we'll get to that in due course. I

should also tell you, I don't know what

version used, but I'm I'm reading from

the Christian Standard Bible. So, it

might be a little bit different from

your Bible, but very very close, right?

All right. Well, let's pray again before

we begin.

Father, we do thank you that you do have

the words of life and and Lord, we thank

you that those words are wonderful and

and and Lord, we just uh repeat the

words of that song. We that you give us

ears to hear and eyes to see. We know we

know we're prone to be distracted. We we

we often

when we're reading your word or hearing

your word, we're our minds wander. So,

help us. Help us by your spirit to

attend to uh these words and uh they're

your words, Lord. So we thank you for

that. Speak speak to our hearts we pray

by your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Well, one of the last recorded songs by

the great country singer Johnny Cash was

the song Hurt. He didn't write that

song, right? But he recorded it. He's he

sings that song before he died. He sang

it with deep uh feeling because uh Cash

himself, I don't know if you all know

Johnny Cash, but he was he was wildly

famous, but he but he battled inner

demons. I'm not speaking of literal

demons there, but he battled inner

demons in his life. He he faced

addictions to drugs. He he fell prey to

sexual sin. I I actually read two

different biographies of Johnny Cash. He

he was a believer, but he struggled a

lot. Well, the first verse of that song,

Hurt, unveils the pain. Here's what he

said. I I hurt myself today to see if I

still feel. I focus on the pain, the

only thing that's real. The needle tears

a hole. The old familiar sting. try to

kill it all away, but I remember

everything. What have I become, my

sweetest friend? Everyone I know goes

away in the end. When I hear this song,

at least in the United States, I don't

know your culture as well, but I think

of I think of our generation. Our

generation in the US, I think it's true

here, too.

It's it's confused.

It's it's anxious. It's angry.

It's distressed.

It's worried. It's it's harried. It's a

it's a wandering generation.

And this is reflected in an American

author uh Jonathan Heaid has written a

book called uh the anxious generation.

That's how he characterizes this

generation. You know, some in the United

States, they're triggered, that's the

word we use over there. I don't know if

you know that word, but they're

triggered by the slightest criticism.

And many in the US, not all, but many in

the US live uh with unhappiness even

though they live in the richest

and most comfortable society really in

the history of the world. They they they

enjoyed luxuries. I think you do too

probably. They enjoyed luxuries even

even the even kings in history did not

enjoy. Still many are miserable. They

they have a a a yawning sense of misery

within and a sense of blame and

accusation to the world without in in

one sense they have everything but but

their lives are meaningless.

Love is love is absent. So that you know

that brings us to our text today because

we see in our story Mark 5:es 1-20 how

Jesus makes a man new. You in the in the

previous story one uh commentator

pointed out in the previous story Jesus

Jesus calms a storm on the sea. He calms

the sea and in this story he calms he

calms a storm in a man's soul.

So we we learn what do we learn from

this story before we begin? We we learn

from this story there's hope there's

hope for every person

and and we learn from the story that

Jesus Jesus is the answer. He's the

answer for for this generation. He's the

answer for every generation. He he's the

hope for you.

He's he's the hope for me. So I I want

to think of four dimensions of the story

as we march through it. So So here's

what they are. First, we see we see the

condition

we see the condition of the demonized

man. Second,

the man and the demons, they encounter

Jesus.

Third, the town's people respond to

Jesus. And fourth we see the new life of

the man freed from Satan's power. So

first

Jesus describes the the state the

condition I mean Mark describes the

state and condition of the demoniac. So

let's read the first five verses.

They that is Jesus and his disciples

came to the other side of the sea to the

region of the Garazines. As soon as he

got out of the boat, a man with an

unclean spirit came out of the tombs and

met him. He lived in the tombs and no

one was able to restrain him anymore,

not even with a chain because he often

had been bound with shackles and chains,

but had torn the chains apart and

smashed the shackles. No one was strong

enough to subdue him night and day among

the tombs and on the mountains. He was

always crying out and cutting himself

with stones.

Uh, one commentator says about the

story, it is one of the most lamentable

stories of human wretchedness in the

Bible. So, this this man was defiled by

by a demon, which which Mark describes

as an unclean spirit. He he wasn't in

his right mind, was he? He he was under

the control of an alien spiritual power.

So as a result

he couldn't live he couldn't live in

human society. He spent his nights and

his days in in cemeteries, tombs, right,

in in the mountains. He didn't he didn't

live a normal life in human society. He

was an outcast. He he he lived a life

that was that was utterly alone and and

and desolate.

So in applying the story, I'm I'm not

saying right hear this. I'm not saying

this generation is demonpossessed.

That's not the application I'm drawing.

I'm not I'm not I'm not suggesting

everyone who suffers

from malades is inhabited by demons.

Although of course demons are real,

right? There is demonic possession. But

I'm not saying that's true of everybody,

right? At the same time, the devastation

happening in our world is the result of

demonic influence. The state of our

world today owes much to Satan's satanic

deceptive power. Human sin is powerful.

If you read Ephesians 2 1-3, I won't

read that right now, but we're told

people are dead in their trespasses and

sins. And they're we're talking about

unbelievers, right? Unbelievers are dead

in their trespasses and sins. If you're

a belie unbeliever today, that's what

the Bible says about you, right? You're

dead in your trespasses and sins. And

and you're under the influence of of the

world, the flesh, and the devil. So

the world, right, there's a sociological

peer pressure dimension to sin. You're

under the influence of the flesh, your

own desires. There's a psychological

aspect of sin. And then under the

influence of the devil, there's a

spiritual aspect of sin. And they all

work together, right? So in this story,

we're focusing on Satan, aren't we?

There's a spiritual aspect. There's a

satanic aspect to sin. And and of course

we see that in the life of this karazine

demoniac. You by way of analogy, right?

Many in our society today, they don't

feel they fit in with the social network

that we have. They're they're alive, but

they're they're downcast and they're

depressed. I I was talking recently to a

college professor in Kentucky. That's

where I'm from in the United States. And

she told me, I don't know if this is

happening over here, some students tell

her, "I can't go to class. I because

going to class, just going to class

fills them with anxiety and with fear.

Those social situations like that they

paralyze them with a sense of dread and

and forboding.

In other words, public any public

encounters, right, coming to a church

like this, that would be that would be

terrifying to them. They they don't go

out into the world, right? They they'd

live their lives alone. And yet even in

their aloneeness, they're they're

miserable.

Well, we continue in the story. Notice

that the demoniac had superhuman

strength. Verse three says, "No one no

one could restrain him."

Mark adds, "Not not even with chains,

not even with feather feathers, right?

He was restrained with shackles and

chains. He tore them apart. He He

smashed them to pieces." When when I

read that I think God God made human

beings he made he made you he made me to

image to God to reflect who God is and

all those love and justice and

beautiness as as Francis Schaefer says

human beings were the crown of creation

and therefore human beings every human

being right every human being is

magnificent right every human being from

a baby to the oldest person even to

someone who's you know experiences u

mental or physical challenges every

human being matters to God every human

being is significant but

we can't fulfill our purpose

we can't fulfill our purpose as human

beings apart from the Lord we're only

strong

in the strength of the Lord when we find

our strength

by depending on him so that we give

thanks to him for for every good work as

as he works in us what is what is

pleasing in his sight. You know David

David reflects on this in Psalm 18:es 1

and two. I love you Lord. Why do you

think David loves the Lord? I love you

Lord. What does he say? My strength. The

Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my

deliverer, my God, my rock where I seek

refuge, my shield, and the horn of my

salvation, my stronghold.

So, the Lord's our strength. But in this

story, we find a man who is strong,

but under an alien power, right? Under a

demonic power. and and therefore his

strength isn't for God's glory or for

his good, right? It was it was

fundamentally

destructive and and that's our story

too, right? Apart from Jesus Christ,

apart from Jesus Christ, the strength we

have actually ends up destroying us. You

know, many in our culture today, at

least in the United States,

they read a story like this and they

say, "But I don't believe in demons. I

don't believe in that. I I don't even

believe in God." But then I say again,

look, look at so many in our society

today. Again, I'm not necessarily saying

they're demonpossessed, right? But

surely Satan is alive and well on the

planet Earth.

He's convinced many people there's no

final judgment. Right? That that's the

work of Satan that after you die nothing

happens. But also we see we see and

maybe it's you today. We're all like

this apart from Christ. We see many who

are many who are broken.

Many who are in despair.

Many many whose lives are ruined and

wrecked by by alcohol,

by drugs, by by deep and profound

addictions, to pornography,

to relationships that are fractured.

And some of those some of those who say,

"Well, I don't believe in God." They're

turning to astrology,

to to horoscopes,

and to pagan and demonic sources. I this

is a long time ago, but I remember when

President Reagan was president, his wife

Nancy, they got in a difficult situation

and she turned to an astrologer. She got

nervous, right? And she wanted to find

some comfort. When when people turn away

from God, they they often unwittingly

they turn towards the demonic. And but

what they don't realize is they're

actually turning to

forces

agents that will ultimately destroy them

and devastate them. So you know in our

desperation we reach out for some

spiritual reality we we pursue happiness

but any joy and happiness from those

things it's short it's short-lived it

doesn't last in the end

in the end we can feel wretched can't we

as people violate their consciences they

deface

they disfigure they they end up

deforming their own humanity And and we

see this in the life of the Gazine

demoniac, don't we? He was he was he was

despondent. He was he was he was

dejected. He was downcasted. He what did

he spend his days doing? He was crying

out in misery. He didn't know he didn't

know whether to live or to die. As he

cut himself with stones, he was he was

he was living a kind of living death,

wasn't he? He wanted to live and he

wanted to die. And again, I'd say that's

the experience of many in our world

today. That's that's the story. That's

our story apart from Christ. People can

smile on the inside, right? But inside

but on the but on the on the outside, I

mean, but on the inside they may feel

miserable. Not everyone's tempted to

commit suicide, right? But I had a very

dear beloved friend. He told me he was

in Sweden. He spent the whole day with

his friend. a whole day having fun doing

things. The next day his friend got up

and killed himself. Not a clue. The day

before he had no clue this person was

unhappy. People can give you one

impression on the outside, right? But on

the inside, profound things are are

happening often in people's lives often

that they hide from us. So that's the

state. That's the story of the demoniac.

And then Jesus comes to see him. And

that brings us to the second dimension

of the text. The demons and the man

encountered Jesus. So we pick it up in

verse six. And I'll read through verse

13. When he saw Jesus from a distance,

he ran and knelt down before him. And he

cried out with a loud voice, "What do

you have to do with me, Jesus, son of

the most high God? I beg you before God,

don't torment me." For Jesus had told

him, "Come out of the man, you unclean

spirit. What is your name?" Jesus asked

him. My name is Legion, he answered him,

because we are many. And he begged him

earnestly not to send them out of the

region. A large herd of pigs was there

feeding on the hillside. The demons

begged him, "Send us to the pigs so that

we enter them." So he gave them

permission, and the unclean spirits came

out and entered the pigs. The herd of

about 2,000 rushed down the steep bank

into the sea and drowned there. Well,

the demoniac, he recognizes immediately

he's no match for Jesus. He runs to meet

Jesus. He falls down before him. He

asked Jesus as the son of God, don't

torment me. So, isn't it interesting?

What an interesting thing. He's never

met Jesus before, but instantly he knows

Jesus is the son of God. But he but it's

the demons who know this, right? The

demons know who Jesus is. In Mark's

gospel, they more know more about Jesus

is than Jesus's enemies.

They know more about who Jesus is than

Jesus's family. Jesus' family has

doubts. They know more about who Jesus

is even than Jesus' disciples.

They recognize and acknowledge Jesus as

the son of God. So, what does that tell

us? merely recognizing and believing in

your head

Jesus is God's son, that doesn't save

anyone, right? Too many Christians,

sometimes even missionaries, think if

they can get just get someone to say

Jesus is the son of God who died for

their sins, they'll be saved.

Even more scary, we can run across

people who made a confession of faith, a

profession, right, when they were 5, 10,

15, 20, 25, who think they're saved just

because they said the right words, but

they haven't been to church and they've

not been following the Lord for years.

As as James says in his epistle, the

demons confess

that there's one God and they shudder.

Intellectual belief alone that does not

save anyone. True salvation doesn't come

if we agree in our minds with right

doctrine. Of course, that's important,

isn't it? You have to believe Jesus is

the son of God to be saved. But it's

more than that. We must also put our

trust in Jesus

to be saved. We are to give ourselves to

him. And Paul says in 1 Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 1:9

1:9, "We're converted when we turn from

our idols to serve the living God." When

we put our trust in the atoning death of

Jesus to save us from the wrath to come.

So if you're not a Christian today,

right, that's the word to you to turn

away from your sin, to turn away from

what you've given yourself to and to

turn to God, to turn to Jesus, to

forgive you of your sins if you trust in

him and to have eternal life. Well, back

back to the demoniac. He's tormented

because Jesus had commanded the unclean

spirit to depart. But but is but what's

going on with him is more complicated

than we might think because Jesus asks

the unclean spirit what's your name?

We're expecting well there's one unclean

spirit in him. What's your name? That's

individual, right? But the demon answers

legion. A a legion. You know Jesus asked

what's your name? But do you notice

something in the story? The demon

doesn't say the name because legion

isn't a name. Legion's what? a number le

a legion was in in the ancient world was

6,000 Roman soldiers. So nothing is said

about a name. Well what we're told the

story surprises us, right? It's not a

name, it's a number, right? What why why

are we told that in the story? To show

that the problem Jesus faced was a

massive problem.

Here here was a man in which there

seemed to be no hope of rescue. This

guy's this guy's beyond help, right?

Everyone in society, right? Everyone's

given up on this guy, right? Uh you

know, we we might think today of people

who come, which is more and more common,

from deeply dysfunctional homes. Uh we

might think of those who prowl the

streets in gangs.

uh or of those who are so

psychologically weak that they don't

ever want to leave home or or maybe

maybe we just think of friends and

family who are hardened to the things of

God. So it seems like they'll never come

to faith that there's nothing that will

ever bring them to God.

But we're reminded from the story,

right? Jesus, Jesus is Lord. And when

when he speaks, his words create a new

reality.

Did you notice Jesus doesn't need a long

exorcism formula, which was common in

the ancient world? He doesn't need a

long incantation.

When he commands legions to depart, they

depart. When Jesus speaks to someone's

heart,

they're set free. they they become new.

What do we learn from this? Never as

long as life lasts, never give up on

anyone

that because Jesus Jesus can save. What

does the story tell us? Jesus can save

the hardest cases. Do you do you have

friends and family that are hard? Don't

give up. You know, you don't have a

absolute promise, but never give up.

Even those whom it seems impossible to

save, this guy's impossible to save.

Right? That's the point of the story.

But the word of Jesus declares and

creates a new reality. I I thought of

the story in Luke

7 when Jesus says to the sinful woman

who everybody knows, they know she's

sinful. When Jesus says,

"Your sins are forgiven. Go in peace."

His word, his word made her new. That

sinful woman, she was no longer defined

by her sin. And neither are you. If

you're a Christian, you you're no longer

defined by your past sin. She was in a

new and right relationship with God. She

was, we read it today, right? She was

Romans 5:1. She was at peace with God

Romans 5:1

through our Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't

Isn't that your story, too? I never

ceased to be amazed and thrilled by the

words,

"Your sins are forgiven.

Go in peace." Well, back to the story.

The encounter with Jesus freed the

demoniac, but but the encounter

terrified the demons, right? They begged

Jesus,

"Don't don't don't don't throw us down

into the abyss, down into the

underworld, right? But they ask if they

can go into the pigs grazing on the

hillside. You know, it's difficult to

know what role the pigs play in the

story. The really the first person I

became a Christian when I was 17 through

the person who ended up becoming my

wife, but the first person I ever

witnessed to was he was in my high

school and uh you know he was reading

the Bible. I never read the Bible before

I was saved. So there's I didn't know

much, right? And he asked me when I'm

sharing the gospel with him, he asked me

about these pigs.

Like what? It bothered him that Jesus

let the demons go into the pigs. Well, I

mean, I had no idea, right? I mean, I

was a new Christian and honestly, I

didn't care much about the pigs, you

know? He But he did. He cared about the

pigs. You never know what's going to

bother people. Well, you know what's our

best guess? Well, pigs, right? In Jewish

culture, they're unclean animals, right?

You can read about that in Leviticus 11

and Deuteronomy 14. Maybe maybe that's

why maybe that's why Jesus allows the

demons to go into the pigs. In any case,

whatever whatever the answer is, the

demons Jesus allows the demons to go

into the pigs and and the and the and

the pigs, you know, they they hurdle

down the cliff, right? and they into the

Sea of Galilee and they drown. I think

the point of the story is

demons devastate wherever they go.

Whether it's a person or animals, they

they they bring trouble, right? You you

know, Mark also tells us there are 2,000

pigs. That number is striking. That's

that's a huge number of pigs. Why? Why

does he tell us that? Right? They tell

stories a certain way because the number

2000 confirms what? There's not just one

demon in this person. There's a legion

of demons. And that therefore so many

pigs are affected. Only only a legion of

demons could inhabit so many pigs.

Jesus didn't just cast out one demon but

many. So the encounter with Jesus freed

the demoniac, right? and uh it routed

the demons. So what what's the lesson

for us as a Christians? As Christians,

we have no reason we have no reason to

fear demons. 1 John 5, greater greater

is he who is in you than the one who is

in the world. or Luke 10:1 19, Jesus

Luke 10:1

says to his disciples, and it's his word

for us, I have given you the authority

to trample on snakes and scorpions and

over all the power of the enemy. Nothing

at all will harm you. Let's remember,

when we're believers, we are more than

conquerors through him who loved us. He

will give us strength by his power to

make it to the end. Now, that brings us

to the third dimension of the story, and

that's the reaction of the town's

people. So, we're going to read verses

14-1 17.

The man who tended the pigs, ran off,

reported into the town in the

countryside, and the people went to see

what had happened. They came to Jesus

and saw the man who had been

demonpossessed sitting there dressed and

in his right mind, and they were afraid.

Those who had seen it described to them

what had happened to the demon-possessed

man and told about the pigs. Then they

began to beg him to leave their region.

So the Gazine demoniac, he's free. He's

liberated from his bondage. They see it,

they report it. We might expect the

people in the town to say, "Praise the

Lord." Right? The demonized man is free.

He's a new person. How exciting. But

instead of rejoicing, they're afraid.

And they say to Jesus, "Please leave.

Please leave. Don't stay."

Why? Why are they struck with fear? And

why do they ask Jesus to leave? probably

because they were more interested in

making money and prospering than

anything else. The loss of the pigs,

that's a financial disaster, right? They

didn't care if a person was transformed

and changed if it meant financial loss.

They they were comfortable in the life

they were living. They didn't want

anything to change it. right before

their eyes. They saw a man impossible to

change. They saw him transform that

someone who was a hopeless case, someone

that no one else could help, right? They

saw

they saw a man made new and they they

just wanted Jesus to go away. Is isn't

that often the same today? Pe people

resist Jesus because Jesus upends our

lives, doesn't he? He turns them in new

directions. We we may be so busy raising

a family, making money, being

entertained. We don't want Jesus

interfering in our lives. We would

rather sometimes, right? Especially

unbelievers, just just go away. Just go

away.

We're fine. Thank you. Just go away.

Don't bother me. I've got my plans.

Right. the the the town's people were

saying, you know, life was better before

Jesus came along and and sadly many

people in society think they're spending

their lives well when they're forgetting

what's most important in life and that's

that's God himself. Well, that brings us

to the last dimension of the story.

That's the new life of the man freed

from demonic power. I want to read verse

15 again.

They the town's people

came to Jesus and they saw the man

who had been demonpossessed sitting

there dressed and in his right mind and

they were afraid.

What does it look like

when a person is freed by Jesus? Well,

first of all, this is my favorite part

of the story. Jesus puts him in his

right mind. The man, he's now whole.

He's sane. He's sensible. He's rational.

In one sense, it's nothing dramatic,

right? But how wonderful it is to be

what we are created to be. I mean,

what's he doing? He's not doing

anything, right? He's he is but he but

he's he's just sitting there. But he

isn't running here and there anymore

like a mentally unstable person. He

isn't outside living in the cemetery

anymore. He's sitting. What's he doing?

He's just sitting quietly at Jesus'

feet. But guess what else? Is this so

dramatic? But he has his clothes on.

He's just living a normal life now,

right? He's living the life he was

intended to live. He was restored to be

what God made him to be. That's what

Jesus does when he gives us new life. He

makes us He makes us what we were always

intended to be. We become

truly and and fully human when we sit at

Jesus' feet, don't we? As we're restored

to the image of the one who created us.

I think of what Gla1 Pascal, the famous

scientist, right, and believer. He said

this. I love this quote. Perhaps you've

heard it before. All of man's problems

stem from his inability to sit quietly

in his room alone. Isn't that an

interesting statement?

Yes. This this man was alone before. But

that was a different kind of aloneeness,

wasn't it? He was frenetic and he was

frantic. But now

he's at peace with God and he's at peace

with himself. He doesn't need

constant entertainment. He doesn't need

constant noise to be happy. He can sit

quietly,

contentedly,

and restfully

in Jesus' presence. He isn't tormented

by his guilt and his sin.

So, if you're a believer today, you're

not that different from the demonized

man, right? You you two were alienated

from God.

You were, whether you knew it or not,

you were ruining your life before you

met Jesus. Maybe maybe you weren't

cutting yourself, maybe you weren't

living outside society, but sin, if you

weren't doing those things, it was

slowly devastating you and destroying

you. You know, it's like the frog being

slowly boiled right to death.

So, you know, sin, I'm not speaking

clinically here because sin at the end

of the day, it's insane, isn't it? Sin

doesn't make any sense because it's it's

it's destructive. But praise God. Praise

God. He's made us new. As Augustine

said,

you have made us for yourself, and our

hearts are restless until they rest in

thee. Well, the story concludes in

verses 18- 20, and we'll read those. As

Jesus was getting into the boat, the man

who had been demonpossessed begged him

earnestly that he might remain with him.

Jesus did not let him, but told him, "Go

home to your own people and report to

them how much the Lord has done for you,

and how he has had mercy on you." So, he

went out and began to proclaim in the

decaps,

that's 10 cities, how much Jesus had

done for him, for him. And they were all

amazed.

So this man wanted to follow Jesus and

to be his disciple. Jesus tells them,

"No, go home. Go home and spread the

news about what the Lord has done for

you." So I I want you to see a couple

things about the end here. Notice notice

first that Jesus said, "Tell him how

much the Lord has done for you."

But the man goes and tells what Jesus

has done for him. Did you notice that

Jesus is Lord? Jesus is equal with God.

The Lord here is Jesus. So that's a

subtle shift in the story, but that's

interesting to notice, isn't here's the

second thing. God calls us to do

different things, doesn't he? It's not

all the same. You might think he'd say,

"I want to go be a missionary for

Jesus." And Jesus says, "No, you stay

home." God calls us in various places.

Some he says, "Stay home. You stay home.

You do your work right there." Others he

calls to different places.

It's up to what the Lord tells each

person, right? There's not just one

pattern. There's not just one way of

living a godly life, right? There's lots

of different paths. And your path is

your path. God will make that clear to

you. And in this case, he said, "You're

going to be effective in your home. You

stay." And then what's the other thing

that's remarkable about this? He said,

"Go home." This good word for all of us,

right? Where you live, where you work,

tell other people about Jesus. Right? So

that takes some boldness and courage,

right? Go home where you are, wherever

you are, tell other people about what

the Lord has done for you. That's what

he calls upon him to do. And that's what

he calls upon all of us to do in our

place where we live.

We're called upon to tell other people

about

about Jesus. And we we can tell them,

can't we?

Jesus, what did this man say? Jesus

changed me. Jesus turned my life around.

Jesus turned my life upside down.

And then we can say, and he can do that

for you, too. Jesus' love can turn your

life around. So give praise to his

wonderful name. Let's pray. Father, we

do thank you for this amazing story of

the power of Jesus Christ. How we praise

you for his goodness. Lord, we pray for

for those of us who don't know Jesus

that we would encounter him like this

man. And for those of us who do know

him, Lord, we pray that wherever we are,

we would fulfill what you want us to do.

That we would be your disciples. And

that we would tell other people how

wonderful Jesus is. We pray this in his

name. Amen.